Misfire
by banjkazfan
Summary: Watching Phoenix breathe erratically and grimace in pain left Maya feeling a hurt in her own heart. He was unconscious, but still felt pain – somehow that didn't seem fair to Maya. Sleep was supposed to be a comfort.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: W**ell hello there, everyone. Seems I've managed to wiggle my way into the Phoenix Wright fandom. After reading the stories that are already here, I'm excited to try adding my own! This is an idea that's been bouncing around my head for a few days now, and I'm curious as to how it will be received. There's a second chapter already in the works, but I wanted to post this for now to see how it will be taken.

I'm still relatively new to the Phoenix Wright world, however, and I greatly appreciate any help I can get with characterizations and such. Since I'm still new, I'm trying to pin down the characters and how they'd react in different situations, so any help that you guys can give me with this would be great!

Thanks so much,  
BKF

...

It had been a fairly normal day at the Wright & Co. Law Offices – Phoenix made a half-hearted attempt to get some paperwork done before finally giving up and turning his ear and mind to Maya's chatter. It was Christmas Eve Day, after all – there were no clients seeking his help; he was simply spending the day closing out some old client files. It was rather embarrassing just how far behind he had fallen with those matters. Maya had honestly tried her hardest to help him, but with the nearing holiday and the lack of actual work she could help him with (not to mention a lack of interest in said work), she had gotten distracted and started talking.

Phoenix smiled softly, not minding her talk in the least. He listened to her talk about this and that and the other thing. He didn't even need to talk to be content with the conversation; he was content just to listen. In fact, he only interrupted her once – it was that fateful interruption that turned their world upside down.

"Hey, Nick, did I tell you?" Maya chittered, straightening the dusty law books on the shelf behind Phoenix's desk. "Will Powers – you know, W.P., the Steel Samurai? – anyways, he's joining one of those crappy reality shows. Can you believe it? I think it's that one with the—"

"Ahn—!" Phoenix let out a soft grunt, clawing at his chest with a grimace of pain.

"No, I'm serious!" Maya's back was to Phoenix and she didn't see his frantic movement. "It's that one where they put people on an island or something, and—"

"M-Maya," Phoenix managed to gasp out, and Maya finally turned to face him. She immediately could tell something was wrong; Phoenix had broken out in a cold sweat and was quivering violently. The way he gripped his shirt right where his heart should be worried her immensely as well. "M-my chest…it hurts—" Suddenly his knees buckled and Phoenix hit the floor, still grimacing in intense pain.

"Nick!" Maya was instantly at his side. She knelt next to him, placing the back of her hand to his forehead. She yelped and pulled her hand back; she hadn't expected him to be so hot! Maya pushed his hair - which had fallen out of its spikes from his perspiration - off of his clammy forehead. "Nick, I'll call for an ambulance. Hang on, Nick, please!" she begged, fumbling in her robes for her cell phone. The time it took for her call to be answered seemed to drag into some of the longest moments of Maya's young life. She only managed to get out a plea for an ambulance and the address before Phoenix suddenly collapsed. Maya managed to get under his body as he fell to support his weight so he didn't crack his head on the floor. Despite being told never to hang up on a 911 call, Maya did exactly that, though she couldn't say exactly why she did. She carefully lowered Phoenix off of her shoulders, laying his head in her lap.

Watching Phoenix breathe erratically and grimace in pain left Maya feeling a hurt in her own heart. He was unconscious, but still felt pain – somehow that didn't seem fair to Maya. Sleep was supposed to be a comfort. She ran her fingers through his thick black hair, trying to calm him even from beyond the sleep he had fallen into. To her surprise and disgust, she felt her lip quiver and her eyes well up with tears. Her hair whipped around her face as she frantically shook her head, trying to ward off the tears and remain strong for her friend even though he wasn't conscious to see her cry.

Maya allowed herself a sigh of relief when she head sirens screaming over the hill. She turned her attentions back to Phoenix and cradling his head in her lap, not caring anymore that her tears were splashing on his cheeks. Maya was so lost in her own thoughts that she never noticed the pounding on the door, or a familiar gruff voice demanding that she open the door. She didn't even flinch when Gumshoe finally burst his way into the office. The scruffy detective's sharp gasp at the sight was what it took to finally draw Maya out of her trance. Gumshoe felt his heart break as he watched Maya absently caressing Phoenix's cheek, but felt slightly unnerved when she raised her red-rimmed eyes up to him; he felt almost as if he were intruding on a private moment.

"D-detective Gumshoe," Maya finally managed to croak. "Please…h-help Nick…"

Something inside the detective snapped at her helpless plea and he knelt down next to the pair. He slipped his arms under Phoenix and carefully lifted him up, being sure to support his neck as he carried the lawyer out the door, Maya following close behind him.

The precinct was close to the scene, and a disconnected 911 call warranted a police visit, so it was no surprise to the paramedics that Detective Gumshoe had reached the offices first. It was a shock, however, to see him carrying defense attorney Phoenix Wright out of the law offices, cradling him close to his own body. They stood dumbfounded for a moment until Gumshoe brushed past them without a word.

"H-hey!" one of the paramedics shouted. "You can't move him! He could be injured!"

Gumshoe glanced over his shoulder darkly. "Then where were you five minutes ago, pal?" he growled softly. "If he dies…" He turned and squared his shoulders, glaring at the paramedics. "I-I'm personally holding you responsible!"

All three EMTs stood, completely floored by the change in the good-natured detective's demeanor. They said nothing as Gumshoe lifted Phoenix into the ambulance and carefully laid him out on the gurney inside. When Maya breezed past them and into the ambulance as well, the older EMT nodded to himself before closing the ambulance doors. All three paramedics sprinted for the cab of the vehicle, not wanting to waste any more time than had already slipped away from them.


	2. Chapter 2

At the hospital across town, a doctor had just closed her weary eyes, desperate to catch even a 10-minute power nap, when her pager suddenly jerked her back to the present.

"Dammit!" she hissed, silencing the beeper and glowering at the offending piece of plastic. "This had better be important…" She squinted to read the display and determined that she was needed in the emergency room. That meant it wasn't something that could wait. Sighing, the young doctor pulled herself out of her chair and dashed down to the emergency room, pushing past other doctors and nurses and not particularly caring about the path of destruction she left behind.

The ER was always an insane place to be, and today was no exception. There were many holiday proceedings gone wrong (people falling off of ladders and into their Christmas trees, entire families getting sick from an undercooked turkey, the occasional icicle stabbing, and the like), but there was one group that looked slightly out of place. The doctor made her way over to the group, being careful not to bump anyone that looked even moderately injured. There was a young girl, maybe in her late teens, with long black hair and a purple yukata, standing next to a large man in a long, dirty trenchcoat. They were standing around a gurney, waiting for the arrival of a doctor.

The young doctor grimaced and strode over. _Alright, what holiday screw-up are these guys with?_ "H'llo, I'm Dr. McCormick," she hastily greeted them, trying to get a better look at the man on the gurney. "Alright, what seems to be the problem here—?" Dr. McCormick suddenly felt like a boulder had settled in her stomach when she saw who the man in need of help was. "P-Phoenix Wright?" she gasped. She whirled around and faced the young woman in the yukata. "You! What is he here for?"

The young woman seemed startled by the sudden harshness to the doctor's tone and by the fact that she knew the man on the gurney. "U-uh, Nick started complaining about chest pain," she finally managed to stammer out, "And then…he just collapsed on top of me…"

"Yeah," the large man cut in. "He was unconscious when I got there a few minutes later."

McCormick placed a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes in thought. "It can't be…" She fumbled to grab Phoenix's wrist and felt for his pulse. It was there, but it was erratic and unsteady. She shook her head and placed her hands on the gurney. "Clear the way!" she shouted. "And someone get me into an OR now!"

The young woman stepped in front of her and gripped her doctor's coat tightly. "Wait, doctor!" she gasped. "Please, tell me what's wrong with Nick!"

McCormick did a double-take at this. "Wait, did he never tell you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. At the girls' frantic and wide-eyed look, it became clear that she had no idea what was wrong with her friend. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I can't explain now – I have to get him into an operating room. I'll talk to you once he's stable." She firmly grasped the gurney and steered it out of the emergency room and down the hall into the waiting OR.

…

A long while later, an exhausted Dr. McCormick finally left the OR and made her way out to the waiting room, where she found the young woman from earlier, nestled against the trenchcoat-wearing man's chest. Both were sound asleep, and appeared as comfortable as they could be in waiting room chairs. McCormick smiled to herself for a moment before gently nudging the girl awake. She awoke with a start and her eyes darted around before finally settling on the doctor and lighting up in recognition.

"Oh," the girl murmured softly. She turned and gave the man a push on the shoulder. "Hey, hey, Detective Gumshoe! Wake up; the doctor's here!"

Gumshoe (_Poor man,_ McCormick mused. _A detective named Gumshoe…_) yawned and groggily roused himself from the depths of sleep. "What is it, pal?" he asked, stretching slightly.

"Mornin'," the doctor smiled wryly. "We just finished up. He'll be in recovery for a bit, but then you can see him once we get him moved to a room."

The girl smiled, despite the obvious fatigue she felt. She rose slowly, stretching to work out the kinks in her back from resting in a chair for so long. "…doctor, can you please tell me what happened to Nick?"

McCormick's light smile faded at this. She knew that this girl had been worried sick about Phoenix, but she couldn't breach doctor-patient-confidentiality…even if the patient was a stubborn fool who refused any and all help when it came to his own health. "I really wish I could tell you," she murmured. "But unfortunately, the law says I absolutely cannot. You'll need to ask him yourself." She could see the frustration and hurt in the girl's eyes and tried to lighten her mood. "Say, what's your name? I'll tell him you're here." She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, remembering vaguely that a mentor of hers once told her that contact was vital to connecting with your patients and their families.

"Um, I'm Maya," the teenager said with a tilt of her head. "I'm Nick's assistant at the office. And this is Detective Gumshoe." The detective grinned broadly to make his presence known.

McCormick nodded. "Well then, Maya and Gumshoe, I'll let you know as soon as he's awake." She smiled and turned to excuse herself, leaving the two alone in the empty waiting room.

…

Maya grinned as soon as the doctor was out of sight. "Hehe, check this out, Gumshoe." She proudly held up a clipboard.

Gumshoe frowned, obviously unsure of what he was supposed to be wowed by. "Uh…what is it, pal?"

Maya gave him a devilish smirk. "It's the doctor's clipboard! Now I can find out what's wrong with Nick!" She started to flip through the papers, looking for any charts that jumped out at her.

"H-hey!" Gumshoe stammered. "You can't do that, pal! That's theft!"

Maya shot an unreadable glance at him over her shoulder. "She's not telling us something, and I want to know what's wrong with Nick." In that moment, Gumshoe saw the impish teenager in her fade, and saw the face of a concerned young woman who was simply desperate to know what was wrong with her best friend. Though it probably wasn't the best or most legal of choices, he simply decided to glance in another direction, pretending not to see it. Maya's giggle told him that she understood.

For a few moments, the waiting room was silent, save the rustling of Maya flipping through the charts. Then Maya gasped and broke the tranquility of the room. "Here! I found Nick's chart!" Gumshoe could no longer contain his curiosity and looked over her shoulder to read the chart. "Hmm," Maya murmured. "There's a lot of terms here I don't understand…wait, hold on...'initial diagnosis made July 24th, 2009'…that's nine years ago now!" She frowned. "So Nick was…17 then, I guess." She sighed and continued to read. "'Dr. John McCormick diagnosed the patient with a bundle branch blockage on the right side of the heart. The decision was made by both patient and parents to keep an eye on the condition.'" Maya glanced up at Detective Gumshoe. "What does that all mean?" He shrugged in reply.

They both dipped their eyes back down to the chart in Maya's hands and skimmed over a few comments about general checkups that Phoenix had had after the diagnosis. One entry in particular, however, stood out clearly to Maya. "'December 12th, 2009: Patient's condition has deteriorated; arrhythmia has begun to set in. The decision was made by parents and doctor to implant a pacemaker.' Wait…what?" Maya gripped the clipboard so tightly Gumshoe momentarily thought it would snap in half. "A p-pacemaker? What is that, and why would they need to put it in Nick's heart?"

"Oh!" Gumshoe's sudden exclamation startled Maya. She glanced at the detective; he appeared to be lost in thought. "I remember my uncle had one of those," he mused thoughtfully. "The doctors told him that he had arrhythmia. He said it meant his heart didn't beat quite right, and that little thing would help to steady his heart."

Maya swallowed hard, re-reading December 12th's entry. "So…if what this says is correct, then Nick had this 'arrhythmia', and his heart didn't beat right. They implanted a pacemaker to make it beat properly…?"

"You've got most of it figured out, I see." The voice of the young doctor yanked both Maya and Gumshoe back to the present.

"Eek!" Maya shrieked, hastily shoving the clipboard behind her to hide it. To her surprise, Dr. McCormick simply smirked and shook her head.

"You just haven't figured out the cause yet, or where it all went from there," she continued, as if Maya's outburst hadn't even occurred. "You're so close, Miss Maya. Maybe there's hope for that fool yet…" The last sentence was almost murmured to herself before she turned her back and made to leave.

Maya had a flash of inspiration and leapt to her feet. "Wait! What do you mean?" she shouted. "What 'fool' are you talking about?" Dr. McCormick stiffened and froze, but did not turn back to face Maya. "Please, doctor! I want to help Nick any way I can, but you're hiding the last piece of the puzzle!"

Now McCormick faced Maya, her eyes taking in the young woman before her. The girl had far too many wrinkles on her forehead for one so young; McCormick idly wondered if many of these wrinkles had come from worry about Phoenix. In that moment after Maya's declaration, McCormick realized that she might finally have found someone to help – but Maya would be no help if she didn't understand what exactly had occurred…

She closed the distance between them with slow strides and tugged a chair over, motioning for Maya to sit in her chair. Dr. McCormick wordlessly held out a hand and cocked her eyebrow, silently asking for her charts back. Maya sheepishly returned the charts, waiting to hear exactly what the doctor had to say.

"Alright," McCormick finally sighed, settling back into her chair. "Now just give me a moment to re-acquaint myself with his file if y'please; it's been some time since I've had to pull it out…"


	3. Chapter 3

"Hmm." McCormick read over Phoenix's file, making an occasional noise of understanding. After a few minutes, she nodded and set the clipboard in her lap before looking at Maya and Gumshoe. "I suppose it'd be best to start at the beginning, no?" Maya nodded slowly, unsure of what she was going to learn from the doctor's reveal. "Well, I'll be honest with you – I've known Phoenix for _years_. I babysat him when he was a kid."

"Aww!" Maya suddenly cut in, momentarily forgetting her unease with the adorable mental image of Phoenix as a child. "Was he a cute kid?"

McCormick chuckled dryly. "Loud as hell. And a bit of a crybaby to boot!" Then she shook her head. "But that's not really important to this story. I babysat him until he was about…twelve or thirteen, I guess. I was nineteen by this point, and was starting my journey into medical school. I decided to follow in my father's footsteps and become a cardiologist – I wanted to work with the heart." She tapped the clipboard in her lap. "You probably read my father's name in here – John McCormick. He was the best there was for a long time."

"Oh, yeah," Maya said, suddenly remembering the name. "Did he ever treat Nick?"

McCormick nodded. "Yes. He diagnosed Phoenix's heart condition. I suppose Phoenix was seventeen or eighteen then. He'd always had some trouble with his heart as a child, I remember, but it was never major enough for concern. If I recall correctly, there was the occasional arrhythmia – an erratic heartbeat." She pressed a hand to her mouth and trailed her eyes to the corner of the ceiling in thought. "But by the time Dad diagnosed it, it had deteriorated into more than that. I was doing rounds with my dad, as he was my attending. I didn't recognize Phoenix at first – he had grown quite a bit since last I saw him. Anyways, Dad told him that he had a bundle branch blockage in the right side of his heart."

"I remember reading that in the file," Maya nodded thoughtfully. "But I had no clue what it meant."

"I want to know how you managed to lift my clipboard in the first place, y'little sneak," McCormick grumbled under her breath. "Uh, how can I put it in easy terms…?" she wondered, a bit louder. "Well, ok, let's try it this way. You know how your heart goes 'lub-dub'?" She used her hands, the right and then the left, to represent the opening and closing of heart valves. Maya tilted her head and nodded, intrigued by the visual representation. "That's controlled by electrical pulses. The electricity opens the first valve, the 'lub'" – she made the motion once more – "and then runs through and opens the second valve, the 'dub'." Another motion illustrated the process. "Well, a bundle branch blockage basically means that something electrical in the heart isn't working quite right. The heart can end up going 'lub-lub-dub' – one valve opens twice before the other opens once – or 'lub…dub-lub…' – a really long pause in which the valve doesn't react."

Maya and Gumshoe were dumbfounded. Maya had managed to hold on to the conversation by the skin of her teeth, but Gumshoe had given up around 'electrical pulses'.

"Um, I've lost you, haven't I?" the doctor sheepishly asked. Maya and Gumshoe nodded slowly, heads still swimming from the information influx. "Sorry. That'd be the doctor in me. You don't need to know about the different types of it. Y'just basically need to know what it is. Anyways, if I remember, Phoenix has a bundle branch blockage where his right heart valve opens twice before the left one reacts. Typically, these branch blockages aren't a problem in the right valve, where Phoenix's is. These are often mildly annoying, but in some cases they can necessitate a pacemaker."

"That's what happened, right?" Maya murmured. "Nick's got worse and he needed a pacemaker…"

"Right you are," McCormick nodded again. "Phoenix, however, was adamant that he absolutely did _not_ want a pacemaker. He managed to convince his parents to hold off a bit longer, to see if the problem would clear up on its own. Dad warned them that the problem had been present for so long that there was little hope of it going away by itself, but Phoenix was insistent. We had him come back for a few checkups the next few months, but by December, it was clear that the problem was only getting worse without treatment." She shook her head. "I'll never understand why Phoenix didn't just go through with it in the first place…would've saved him a lot of pain and hassle…" She sighed and paused for a few moments to gather her thoughts. "We decided to operate on December 26th – Dad was to install a pacemaker to help regulate Phoenix's heartbeat. It was simple enough…but then not long after the operation, Dad got into an accident, and I took over his cases while he recovered. That's the only reason I know so much about Phoenix's file," she admitted. "Well, Phoenix came to the first few months of checkup appointments after that, but after he turned 18, we didn't see him in here much anymore…" She frowned.

Maya sighed through her nose, mulling over the doctor's story. It didn't make much sense to her as to why Nick would just blow off his appointments, especially since they were checking up on something as vital as a pacemaker…

"Anyway, the particular model of pacemaker we used for Phoenix is supposed to last about fifteen years…but then about a year after the operation, news came out that there was an entire faulty shipment of pacemakers that, for whatever reason, stopped functioning after only eight years. And guess whose pacemaker came in that faulty shipment?" Dr. McCormick grimaced and slapped her forehead. "Naturally we tried to get ahold of him, but I suppose he was living by himself by then, because we had a hell of a time tracking him down."

_Nick would've been almost 20 by this point,_ Maya thought to herself. _So he was still going through school to be a lawyer. I guess that's why they could never get ahold of him…_

"And then when we finally found him, he refused to return our calls!" McCormick sighed. "So it was only a matter of time before the damn thing gave out. That boy. He always was so stubborn…" She trailed off, glaring at the door of the waiting room as if she didn't want to continue holding Maya's gaze.

Maya giggled a bit. "You sound like you're still babysitting him, doctor."

"I might as well be!" McCormick huffed indignantly. "He never takes care of himself! Never has, and probably never will…and that's why I need you to help me, Miss Maya." Her voice suddenly dropped to a low tone, and she leaned in a bit closer to Maya. "Listen to me. Phoenix has never taken care of himself – I think that's just how he is."

Maya bit her lip. "Y-yeah, he always gives so much of himself…like the time he stayed up with Pearls when she had the flu, and didn't complain when he got sick from her…I didn't even know he was sick until I caught him throwing up, and then he just tried to wave it off."

McCormick's lips curled into a slight smile. "So he's still the same as always, I see. And if I remember the same little stubborn boy I think I do, I doubt he's going to start paying attention to his own health. He needs a reason to think about himself, if you catch my drift."

There was a silence while Maya puzzled over the doctor's last thought. _A reason to think about himself…? I don't get what she's saying…_

Dr. McCormick gripped Maya's hands and stared into her eyes. "Miss Maya. I saw just how worried you were about Phoenix. Hell, darlin', you were ready to throw yourself in front of the gurney to find out what was wrong with him," she chuckled. "If he knows how much he worried you…maybe it would force him to think about taking care of himself for once." She gave Maya's hands a slight squeeze. "If he knew how much he meant to you, he might care about himself a bit more."

"Oh!" Maya's face flushed a bit as McCormick's words. She had often refused to acknowledge her own feelings towards Phoenix, scrambling to find excuses not to think about and not to reveal them.

Today had changed that, though. Today she had almost lost Nick, and during the tense hours of the operation, she began to mourn the time they could've had. She berated herself for failing to speak up sooner about her feelings, and she wondered what she was so afraid of anyways. All of the reasons she had found to hold back from him were evaporating as each hour dragged by. Every reason she had come up with to keep silent suddenly seemed foolish.

Maya suddenly realized that the doctor was still staring at her with a cocked eyebrow. "This new pacemaker I implanted should hold out for a good 15 years, like the first one was supposed to," McCormick told her. "But if he keeps skipping his appointments, we won't know that the thing is still operating as it should. That's what happened this time, I believe – it just finally gave out and he kept on goin', not knowing that his pacemaker was faulty. I'm surprised he held out this long without it, to be frank…so, Miss Maya? Do y'think you can try and keep an eye on him for me?" McCormick asked, a soft grin appearing on her face.

Maya found her eyes welling up, and she smiled at the doctor, feeling as if her heart would burst with joy. _Nick is going to be alright…he's going to be just fine now…_ She nodded, her tears finally spilling over. "I-I will, doctor," she said, voice trembling with relief. "I'll take care of Nick…I promise!"

McCormick nodded. "I thought you would say that." Suddenly her beeper went off and she disentangled her hands from Maya's. She held the beeper a bit away from her face and squinted to read the screen. "Oh, hey, looks like they're movin' him back to a room now. You two want to come with me? I'll show you where they're taking him."

As they all rose, Maya smiled over her shoulder at Detective Gumshoe. She threw her arms around the detective, enveloping him in a huge hug.

"W-whoa, pal," Gumshoe stammered when she finally released him from her iron grip. "What was that for?"

Maya averted her gaze slightly. "To say thanks. For helping Nick…for staying with me. I don't think I could have held up by myself. I would've cracked…"

Gumshoe nodded at her and gave her a soft smile. "No problem, pal," he said, ruffling her hair gently. "I was worried about him too." He scratched his head, slightly embarrassed by his admission.

"Hey, you two!" Dr. McCormick called. "Come on! If we hurry, we can beat the gurney there!"

Maya hastened her steps, and Gumshoe followed suit to ensure that he wouldn't be left behind in the hallways of the enormous hospital.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: S**orry about my absence. I was on vacation at my fiancé's military graduation.

I haven't gotten to really say it yet, but thank you all so much for your support! I really appreciate all the feedback!

Also, I realized that there's a slight error in chapter 3; Maya says that at age 20, Phoenix was likely still at law school. But from Trials and Tribulations, we know that's not true. He was still at Ivy as an art student (I'm a nerd for knowing that). Whoops. I'll fix that and re-post that chapter ASAP. If you haven't noticed it, sorry for calling your attention to it. If you did and were too nice to say anything, thanks for sparing my feelings of stupidity :D

I'm sorry this update is so short, but unfortunately the next update is going to be a long time off. I'm sorry for you guys who have been waiting for me, but I'm actually leaving for Japan in…(checks watch)…five hours? So it'll be about two weeks before I get home, and maybe another few days after that before I'm moderately coherent. But, hang tight; I will be back!

I'll add one more note here as a cover for myself. Post-surgery recovery is _not_ fun. I had an operation last year, and to be frank, I don't remember much about my own experiences. Drugs are nice. So, if there are any mistakes with my post-operation procedures, blame my morphine-addled brain.

…

Dr. McCormick led the duo down the hallways of the hospital and into room 124. She nudged Maya and Gumshoe into the room before glancing down the hallway to see if the gurney was close.

"Well, looks like we beat them here," she said. "He'll still be pretty drugged up, but I bet he'll be happy to see you." She placed a hand over her mouth, lost in thought for a moment. "I just hope it's not as bad as the time he got ahold of half-a-bottle of cough syrup when he was seven…"

Maya laughed. "And you let it happen? Some babysitter you were, doctor!"

McCormick glowered at her shoes, her face aflame. "I never said I was perfect," she mumbled. Suddenly there was a light knock at the door.

"'Ey, McCormick!" someone shouted from the other side of the closed door. "Open up! We've got your patient."

McCormick opened the door and gestured for Maya and Gumshoe to stand back as they wheeled Phoenix into the room. It took everything Maya had in her not to run to Phoenix's side, but watching her friend lie in a drug-induced haze nearly broke her. She bit her lip and instead clawed at Gumshoe's arm ("Ow! I ain't a scratchin' post, pal!") to quell the urge to bolt for Phoenix.

Watching the doctors move him from the gurney to the hospital bed was even worse for Maya. Though she knew in her heart that the doctors were professionals, she couldn't get the momentary horrifying thought out of her head that they would drop Phoenix. As McCormick counted off for she and her colleagues to lift in unison, Maya again chose to scratch desperately at Gumshoe ("OW! You better not have ripped the jacket, pal!").

Maya and the other doctors watched McCormick hook Phoenix up to a heart rate monitor. The doctors watched to refresh the procedure in their minds, but Maya watched because she was fascinated in a morbid sort of way. Maya was entranced by the simple little finger clamp that carefully monitored Phoenix's heartbeat; it astounded her that such a tiny machine could work so effectively. As fascinated as she was, however, she found that she had to turn away when McCormick placed the IV in Phoenix's hand. Watching her best friend get poked with needles was too much for her to bear at that moment.

"…and, there we go," McCormick murmured, more to herself than any of the other people in the room. Maya looked back at her, watching with interest as the doctor moved almost fluidly from point to point in her examination. "Okay, he's on a steady drip now. We'll need to keep an eye on his hydration; you can't let post-op patients become dehydrated. Let me just check one last thing…" She carefully moved Phoenix's hospital gown aside to check on the bandage. "Mmm, I'll have to replace that already…got to keep an eye on that…" McCormick gently peeled back the bandage, revealing the incision she had made only a few hours prior. Maya fought to swallow the lump that had suddenly materialized in her throat as she stared at the long, ugly line of stitches holding Phoenix's skin together. She almost felt like throwing up, but thankfully the doctor placed a new bandage over the incision before that occurred. "That should do it," McCormick said, oblivious to Maya's discomfort as she faced the spirit medium. "Well, he'll be awake soon, I figure…just press the call button on the bed when he does wake up…"

An uncomfortable sort of silence settled over the room as McCormick left the room and closed the door softly behind her.


End file.
